Quote:
Originally Posted by DeezNutz
I'm more pessimistic about this sack of shit franchise than just about anyone, but this is ridiculous.
Your statement is no more true about the Royals than it is about any ML team.
And, miraculously, teams all around the league produce talented arms.
At times, your Cards love causes hyperbole to run into this thread.
|
Okay, for instance, my Cardinals.
You know how many of our pitchers are products of our farm? Precisely 0.
Carp -- FA
WW -- Trade
Piniero -- Trade
Lohse -- FA
Smoltz -- FA
Wellemeyer -- Scrap heap.
WW is close, we traded for him as a AA prospect and developed him. Since 1990, we have really only 1 true homegrown pitching success story - Matt Morris. In the meantime we have 2 SPs that threw no-hitters as rookies for us after incredibly succesful minor league stints that went on to do nothing else for the rest of their careers (Bud Smith and Jose Jiminez).
Your recent past is filled with the Jeff Austins, Kyle Snyders and Jeremy Affeldts. Look at the draft record of the team most synonymous with developing pitching over the last 2+ decades in ATL and you'll see only 1 true success within the org.
Look at most teams and you'll find a similar trend. Look in the other baseball thread and you'll see my Orioles example. Seriously, just look around baseball and you'll see that a vast minority of teams have a homegrown ace and even fewer can point to their top 3 pitchers and say they came from within the system. The Twins, Angels and Giants are the exceptions to the rule.
I'm not saying the phenomenon is unusual to the Royals - it's everywhere. I didn't come up with the TINSTAAPP concept, Bill James did. I don't believe I said anything unreasonable or unduly critical. The Royals have 2 legitimate high-end pitching prospects in Crowe and Melville. If one of those guys end up as a #3 or higher, you'll have bucked a mathmatically undeniable trend. If any of the other pitchers in your system do it, you'll have definitely done so.
Cardinal fan or not, I absolutely stand by my assertion.